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With two high-flying vaults that simplify complex, gravity-defying movements, Rebeca Andrade won the vault final at the Tokyo Games on Sunday, bringing Brazil its first ever gold medal in women’s gymnastics.
The Olympics just keep getting better.
In the all-around final last week, 22-year-old Andrade won the silver medal, finishing just behind American Sunisa Lee. She dedicated the silver medal, the first Olympic medal of any color in women’s gymnastics for Brazil, to her country, her trainers, and the medical staff who helped her qualify for these Games after another serious injury to her right knee.
Andrade won with 15,083 points. MyKayla Skinner of the USA, who retired after these Olympics, came in second for the silver medal. Yeo Seo-jeong won the bronze medal for South Korea, becoming South Korea’s first medal in women’s gymnastics.
In 2019, Andrade needed his third surgery in four years to repair his torn anterior cruciate ligament in his right knee, thus missing the world championship. Without him, the Brazilian team could not qualify for Tokyo. And he was only eligible to participate in these Games as an individual in June.
This last-minute effort to compete in Tokyo was well worth it: Andrade’s best performance at the 2016 Rio Games, the last Olympics, was 11th overall.
The first of the two cases was a Cheng with a springboard rounding, a half-twist to the vault, and a 1½-twist front arrangement. The second was an Amanar with a rounding on the springboard, a rear hand spring on the case, and a 2½ twist rear layout. He didn’t hold either landing, but his execution and height helped him score high.
Simone Biles exited the competition with a mental health issue, while Andrade’s toughest rivalry to hit the vault was two Americans: Jade Carey and Skinner.
Carey, who finished second in the vault qualifiers last week, looked like she had set her debut to her first vault – which was supposed to be a Cheng, but she eventually broke bail and completed a Yurchenko tuck, which was just a somersault. without any bending. Dazed and almost in tears, he held his composure long enough to make a second jump, but this was one big step for landing. His total score of 12,416 points put him out of the medals.
Skinner was just as surprised, but quite the opposite. Last week, he thought the Olympics were over and his career was over – he finished fourth in the vault. As only two gymnasts per country advanced to the finals in the all-around and in each apparatus, Biles and Carey made it to the finals after finishing ahead of her in the standings.
In an Instagram post, Skinner, 24, and alternate at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Games, said he was heartbroken about how these Olympics turned out for him.
“This closes the book about my gymnastics career, and my only regrets were things beyond my control. So no regrets,” she wrote. “For now I’ll just try to fill the emptiness in my heart.”
But when Biles pulled out of the vault on Saturday, Skinner got one last chance to don the competition leotard and see if he could win.
She once again posted on Instagram: “We do this for us @Simone_Biles. … It’s time to go, baby!”
Finally, Skinner – who Lee called the team’s “grandmother” because he has a lot of experience in the national team – with the long-awaited Olympic medal around his neck, he will go to Arizona.
Maggie Astor contributing reporting.
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